The abatement of environmental externalities has received significant international, political and community attention over recent times. Evidence suggests that the effects of externalities are diverse and potentially very large, and are likely to have significant economic, social and environmental costs associated with damage to health and the environment. Strategies to substantially diminish the impact of the transport sector, in particular, on the environment have been proffered over the last 20 years. Notwithstanding the prevalence of good-will and ideas to increase emphasis on the issue of sustainable development, the reality is that the environmental impact of transport is a direct outcome of the demand and reliance on transport for passenger and freight sectors. The objective of this paper is to assess the valuation of externalities as a mechanism to promote sustainable development and focuses primarily on environmental transport externalities (mainly for road). This paper does not estimate the external costs related to transport, rather it explores recent progress and trends in developing externality values in Australia, and the challenges in applying these values in policy development, pricing and project appraisal. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E214666.
Abstract